PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 323 
Manufacturers of farm implements will do well to study the needs of the 
Mexican farmers. Oxen are the sole draft animals of the country for farm 
work. The men have for many generations driven the cattle as they now do. 
The ox bow is attached to the head and horns of the animals. Energy is trans- 
ferred from the driver to the team through the medium of the needle-pointed 
“pica,” or prod. One hand is required to handle this instrument of energy, while 
with the other the plow is manipulated. Of what use, therefore, are two handles 
toa plow?) An American cannot handle an improved plow with one hand. How, 
then, can a Mexican? 
To sell plows in the Republic of Mexico one must be devised which is suited 
to the slow motion of the ox and the man. It must be balanced so that with 
one hand it may easily be manipulated, and then skilled workmen, not mere sales- 
men, must be sent to Mexico to teach the farmers how to use them. The man- 
ufacturer who is wise enough to build an implement suited to the needs of this 
people, and instruct them in its use, will lay the foundation for a profitable and 
permanent business. 
WRONG IMPRESSIONS OF MEXICO. 
When we see the rude implements and ancient customs, it is asserted that 
Mexico is far behind the civilized world. This, in some respects, is true. Yet in 
the four centuries’ experience in the art of irrigation and in the laws secured for 
the management of her forests Mexico is far in advance of the United States, 
while in her structures of masonry we can learn much from her experience. An 
exchange of ideas would be profitable for both nations. Some of our agricultural 
schools could learn much from the farmer and irrigator of the Republic. 
FORESTS. 
Officials of the Republic who have carefully studied the subject mention that 
there were forests on the tablelands and that rainfall was much greater vears ago 
than now. Tradition says that the Spaniards cleared away these forests, since 
which the rainfall has been greatly diminished. Certain it is, there are now no 
extensive forests on the great plains of Mexico. 
There are the remains of great systems of reservoirs for irrigation, with aque- 
ducts of brick supported upon arches, which still remain, where the water was 
carried through tunnels and over valleys for long distances, but by reason of 
droughts and decreased precipitation these are now of little or no use. 
Forests cannot exist without water. Regular and copious rainfall cannot 
prevail without a production of forests. Aridity is invariably accompanied by 
scant shrub growth, or entire absence of plant life. 
When it is considered that Mexico, especially the Southern portion, is narrow, 
with large oceans on either side, lying in a tropical region where evaporation is 
constant and extreme, the questions naturally arise: Why is there not greater 
precipitation? Why are there not large trees and dense forests, which always 
accompany moist tropic conditions? In his history Prescott relates that at the 
time of the invasion there were large and dense forests which were not uncommon 
upon the higher tablelands. 
